Code of Psionic Crime
The Code of Psionic Crime is an addition to the State of New York's criminal code which penalizes deliberate telepathic interference. The law excuses accidental psionic influence and innocent telepathic behavior while criminalizing deliberate invasions of privacy and active mental or emotional interference. The legislature also added a legal affirmative defense to crimes potentially excusing behavior undertaken while under the influence of a psionic. History & Controversy The New York Code of Psionic Crime is an adjustment to the penal code of the State of New York designed to respond to the threat of mutant crime in a state fast become the mutant capital of the world. The law or something like it was batted around in public debate for some time before it was undertaken, resulting in a great deal of political squabbling and editorial debate. Jean Grey was outed as a telepath (rather than merely as a telekinetic) in the course of advocating for it. The State legislature thoroughly investigated the possibility using legal tools to handle the telepath problem by contacting a series of experts, including Shaw Research Center alumni Natalie Simon, Bahir al-Razi, and known mutant expert and advocate Jean Grey. They heard from a number of different interest groups and scientists and eventually came out with the Mutant Crimes Bill. The Bill The penal code criminalizes only deliberate invasion of privacy thought-reading without consent as a misdemeanor with fine and potentially light jailtime or community service attached. According to drafters of the bill, criminalizing behavior less morally culpable than deliberate invasion (as opposed to "overhearing," which is classified as "innocent" psionic behavior in the definitional work at the beginning of the bill) is both impractical and beyond the interests of justice. Deliberate alteration of mental or emotional state, without prior consent, including memory or associated psychic damage, would be graded on a felony scale; personality change or complete memory rewrite overhaul would be at the top of the list as a Class C Felony. No telepathic crime will get receive worse than 12-15 years in prison. Under the standards of the law, any deliberate telepathic or empathic alteration without prior consent may constitute telepathic assault. The criminal mens rea standard of intent for all psionic crimes is purpose or knowledge, which means that psychic damage or alteration inflicted recklessly or negligently is not criminal. This measure effectively protects against criminalizing mutants for manifesting and not knowing what they're doing. Intent-wise, the telepath (or other psionic entity) will have to subjectively intend or know with a substantial certainty that their actions will cause mental alteration or psychic damage; accidents shall never under this standard be criminal). There is a very short statute of limitations on psionic crime and on the use of psionic influence as an affirmative defense to a crime. The burden of proof is always on the defendant to prove that he was psychically influenced, not on the state to prove that he was not. However, as with most burden-on-the-defendant burden of proof, a preponderance of the evidence (51%) is all that is necessary to allow the jury to acquit on basis of psychic influence within the 30-day statute of limitations. The bill was signed into law in December of 2008 to go into effect January 1, 2009. Enforcement The primary difficulties of enforcing the laws on telepathic crime are determining when a telepathic crime has taken place. Most hotly-debated and, after its creation, the most frequently and vitriolically attacked as unconstitutional (although not yet overturned) was the creation in the bill of an experimental group of court-approved, highly qualified and highly vetted psionic investigators whose talents would only be used within the constraints of a psionic criminal investigation. The bill emphasized that the use of these investigators would be extremely limited, and that the courts will not consider any telepathic evidence beyond establishing that a telepathic crime has been committed. No other information gleaned by telepathic investigators will be legally relevant. Creating this team in New York City has proven extremely difficult for the State of New York, in practice. Although there are a very few telepaths who have made themselves available to this corps on a consulting basis, judges and juries have been reluctant to use them, and the affirmative defense of telepathic influence has, since its creation, not been successfully used. Category:Law